Author Topic: Useless Subjects Studied in High School and College in the Philippines  (Read 6025 times)

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By Jes Tirol
Sundry Column, Bohol Chronicle

Proem

The term K-12 refers to 12-years of basic education before entering college. President Noynoy Aquino or P-Noy announced during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) that he favors the K-12 system of education. Our present educational system consists of 6-years elementary and 4-years high school or K-10.

The Philippines is one of the two countries in the world with K-10 education. Most countries are K-12 and a few are K-11.

Basing upon your experience, is there really a need for K-12? Do you think you are less educated because you only had K-10?

My Experience

I studied Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in college (BSCE). The Philippines is the only country in the world that requires five (5) years to finish any Bachelor in Engineering degree. All other countries require only four (4) years.

I studied Masters in Engineering at the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand. The student population was international. Do you think the Filipinos, with five years in engineering were superior to the students coming from other countries? The answer is a big NO! In fact we were very far behind.

The reason is that the 4-year engineering curriculum from other countries contained only engineering subjects. In the Philippines, the 5-year curriculum consists of two (2) years cultural subjects and only three (3) years in engineering subjects. So the Filipinos are actually one year behind.

Our classmates from other countries always asked us, "What took you too long to study too little?" We told them that we studied social science, history, Filipino, political science, etc. It totaled 72 units (now reduced to 54 units) or 24 three (3) units subjects. All of our foreign classmates were aghast of the waste of time and effort.

They then asked, "So what lessons did you study in high school?" We answered that we also studied the same subjects in high school. Our foreign classmates encountered these subjects in high school and no longer repeated in college. In college they only studied the professional subjects.

You can now see why our 5-year engineering curricula are no match to the 4-year curricula in other countries.

We Have No Depth

In our educational system we study Filipino and English from Grade 1 to college. Many lessons in the elementary are repeated in high school and then repeated in college.

For example, in the First Year High School today, the mathematics lessons are a little of everything. The curriculum consists of a little arithmetic, a little geometry, a little statistics, and a little algebra. If a student stops, he ends up with learning nothing at all. When I looked at the Fourth Year High School mathematics, the same subjects were repeated but with addition of some trigonometry and analytic geometry. The student will graduate in High School without mastering any mathematics but everything is partial in form and content.

When I investigated further the High School Curricular format, I found out that it is good. It is only the actual implementation by DepEd that leaves plenty of things to be desired.

I told the Principal Teacher in UB Loon Institute, where I am now the President, that we will not follow the recommended DepEd way of implementation. We should strive for depth and not breath. If we teach algebra in the First Year, it should be all algebra and teach it completely. If the student will stop, at least he already knows how to use algebra. When we teach geometry, it should be all geometry and completed, and so on.

A Sad Encounter

A few days ago I encountered an engineering professor studying a Grade IV arithmetic book. I thought he was studying to help his child studying at the VDT Advanced Learning Center. It turned out that he was teaching mathematics for Second Year Bachelor of Science in Commerce. The required teaching syllabus in college is the same as the Grade IV arithmetic at VDT.

I told the professor, why are you teaching them Grade IV arithmetic? Why not teach them Trachtenberg Arithmetic? It is very useful in business courses. He replied, my students could hardly understand these kind of arithmetic, how much more the Trachtenberg Arithmetic. Oh, what a sad state is our educational system in!

Comment

If the additional two (2) years in basic education is just a repetition of the present situation, it will end up as useless. Increasing the number of years is not the priority but the total change of the way the subjects are taught. The emphasis should be in depth and not the fragmentation of the subject. Our 5-year Engineering curricula do not produce better engineers than the 4-year curricula in other countries.

Would a lawyer today agree that he will be taught the Civil Code from Articles 1 to 50 in the First Semester, then Articles 51 to 150 in the Second Semester, then Articles 151 to 200 in the First Semester in the Second Year and so on until Fourth Year? How about doing it also for the Criminal Code? I am sure the lawyer would not agree.

Believe it or not, that is how mathematics, science, English, Filipino, etc. are being taught from Elementary to High School and College. Everything is partially taught!

Nothing is mastered by the students because by the time he reaches 4th year he already forgot what the starting lesson was four years ago or even ten years ago.

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Re: Useless Subjects Studied in High School and College in the Philippines
« Reply #1 on: August 04, 2010, 01:25:19 PM »

a sad state, indeed.  but while it may be true that we lack depth in our teaching approach and coverage of subject matter as against breadth, cultural subjects must not be sacrificed.  i believe education must be all-encompassing.  too much specialization in one's chosen field (that is, not having any background, much less knowledge of even the basics of humanities and sociology) is like turning a blind eye to more important though less income-generating realities of man's raison d' etre.  i'd call that automation and not education.

on the other hand, perhaps it's time for dep-ed people to make a thorough review of our curricula, sans pressure from congress (which is partially manned by school-owning congressmen) and sans vested interests from among themselves whose real incomes are derived from textbooks either written by them or by their peers in the field, which they then recommend as must-have textbooks in schools, thereby ensuring sales.  that's no mean income there, come to think of it.
   

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Re: Useless Subjects Studied in High School and College in the Philippines
« Reply #3 on: August 04, 2010, 01:55:59 PM »
10 + 5 = 15

12 + 4 = 16

 :P

10 eggs + 5 guavas = 5 baluts

12 pigs + 4 hens = 100 packs of homemade tocino

 :P

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iNsIktiSayD

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Re: Useless Subjects Studied in High School and College in the Philippines
« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2010, 01:58:59 PM »
the bottomline here is we have less regard on the worth of a person. that's why teachers take their students for granted.

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Re: Useless Subjects Studied in High School and College in the Philippines
« Reply #5 on: August 04, 2010, 04:20:00 PM »
Daghan kaajong subject nga wa na kinahanglana.

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Re: Useless Subjects Studied in High School and College in the Philippines
« Reply #6 on: August 04, 2010, 05:23:13 PM »
dugangan pa man gani'g sex-ed. ???

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Re: Useless Subjects Studied in High School and College in the Philippines
« Reply #7 on: August 04, 2010, 05:32:30 PM »
Kinagara sa mga taga DepEd na.  >:(

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Re: Useless Subjects Studied in High School and College in the Philippines
« Reply #9 on: August 18, 2010, 07:14:33 PM »
dugangan pa man gani'g sex-ed. ???

Hagbong ko ani...

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Re: Useless Subjects Studied in High School and College in the Philippines
« Reply #10 on: August 18, 2010, 07:26:59 PM »
Hagbong ko ani...

...aw di kamaong motudlo si ms teach..


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Re: Useless Subjects Studied in High School and College in the Philippines
« Reply #11 on: August 18, 2010, 07:29:21 PM »
...aw di kamaong motudlo si ms teach..


Kahibawo tingali pero wa taronga pagtudlo...

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Re: Useless Subjects Studied in High School and College in the Philippines
« Reply #12 on: August 18, 2010, 07:32:27 PM »
Kahibawo tingali pero wa taronga pagtudlo...

..basin nagsige'g lecture si ms teach, 'nya ikaw nga buyag pod, nagsige sab ug aksyon.....madahan?
da pa man!!

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Re: Useless Subjects Studied in High School and College in the Philippines
« Reply #13 on: August 18, 2010, 09:17:53 PM »
Useless subjects in HS would be: Religion  :)

Welcome diay sa TB Ms. Igseccionph, ng hinaut ko nga makakutlo ka ug mga maayong thread diri nga gi pang shared sa atong mga kauban, maingon man usab kami makakat-on sa imong e pang share na mga ideas puhon.  :)


Mangutana lang ko nganong useless sa imoha ang religion.  :)

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Re: Useless Subjects Studied in High School and College in the Philippines
« Reply #14 on: August 19, 2010, 04:32:09 AM »
Ako manay busa ang akong kaagi kinaraan. Sa akong pagtoo na-a kana sa maestra.I spent elementary in Paranaque and the first two years in high school was in Pasay City High (East). The teaching faculties were all dedicated mentors. I learned very good Filipino as a language, basic math and english. Most of our teachers in Pasay City high were UP grads. third and fourth year was in Saint Mary Academy Guindulman.
We were taught to read a lot. Books could be easily borrowed. We got a good quality of learning, which I think is not common nowadays not unless a kid is enrolled in a private school.
Sa akong pagtoo, naa sa pagtoon ug sa nagtudlo.
Teachers are  low paid so I assume that they have a low morale plus ang atong eskwelahan congested, this is not conspicuous to  good learning.
Sa college nako ( Palma sa una now EB), akong mga barkada nga nangiskwela ug engineering kasagaran palahobog, ang uban na top notcher pa. Ang mga nakahoman sa una dagku man ang mga nakab-ot karon. Asa ra si Alayman?



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Re: Useless Subjects Studied in High School and College in the Philippines
« Reply #15 on: August 22, 2010, 09:24:49 AM »
Throughout my high school experience, all classes were useful. Even the home economics elective that I took during my 3rd year in high school (which at the time seemed silly to my friends) is coming handy in the home/apartment.



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